I thought right away of hydroponics. They could probably find a hygienic way to recycle urine for the nitrates. The lights would be somewhat of a power drain. They’d have to find a way to desalinate seawater as well. It would be a great health benefit for the sailors.
Seems totally doable based on current methods and research. I think it’s a great idea for nuke subs especially.
pot farmers have been growing indoors and underground for years.
the issue won’t be whether or not they can grow some veggies. they can. the issue will be to grow enough veggies for a crew in the confined space.
Since there are successful companies with completely indoor vegetable factories now, it doesn’t seem like it would impossible to implement this in a submarine.
Drone Amazon subs arrive weekly. Problem solved.
Smacks of more pc wussification of the military. Subs aren’t supposed to be submersible salad bars.
I’m sure if you took out half the crew, all the weapons, most of the electronics you would have enough room to grow a salad for every day.
On a carrier you could use the entire flight deck and hanger once the stupid aircraft and pilots and mechanics are deleted and nobody would try to sink you anymore cause you are just a nuclear powered greenhouse.
I’d rather have a Buffalo Wild Wings on the ship.
Leds grow plants quite nicely, are quiet, use very little electricity, and very little heat. Had a 3 yr old mango till I put it out one spring.
What’s wrong with frozen veggies!
Is Michelle Obama behind this?
Ask the enlisted guys. Probably half of them have grown pot under lights.
one small Advantage would be the plants could aid in the CO2 scrubbing process.
in fact plot plants love high CO2 levels.
Potheads actually purchase CO2 generators for their grow cabinets.
Just freeze dry the veggies.
We grew radishes
For one deployment, our Supply Officer sealed the lettuce in individually plastic bags filled with nitrogen. Worked great! Fresh lettuce for almost two months!
I think it is a silly idea. Unless you have long term plans to send people to sea for longer than they can stand without a port visit, it makes absolutely no sense at all to me.
This is a nuclear submarine, not a commune (yet). They are performing a job, a highly technical one, and there is a logistical chain in place to supply food that is of good quality and well established.
Unless this is an extremely automated process that requires no human intervention, this seems like a misuse of space and resources.
I am not against farming, hydroponics, or anything like that. But to put this on a submarine smacks of social engineering, has nothing to do with the military.
If we are in such extremis that a submarine cannot put into port for supplies, fresh vegetables are going to be the least of anyone’s worries.
As a former submarine officer I will contribute to this. Aside from the obvious lack of space on a nuclear submarine, the crew has enough things to do, than tend to a garden.
rather than such an ambitious program, I would suggest starting with sprouts.
Sprouts can be easily grown with damp cloths and very little space. Growing sprouts would be good woman’e work
I’d have to say yes based on what I grew on some damp laundry one time on a house boat.
Seems it would be more effective to develop underwater drones for resupply. The sub could rendezvous with the drone and stock up on veggies.
There are probably security implications (an enemy following the drone, for example), but they could be less than showing up at a port in a major city.